Unfettered Blather

I talked earlier about the Guitar Hero brand knowing fell well that I intended to purchase Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

Let’s just make this simple. If you thought Rock the 80’s was an overpriced expansion pack then you have a good idea of what this game is like. I’d say it’s more balanced than Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, but without the wide selection and the strong focus on just one band it may lack appeal to anyone who isn’t a Guitar Hero fan. I certainly think with all of Guitar Hero III’s problems this is probably a bad follow-up. If Neversoft hadn’t worked so hard to frustrate Guitar Hero fans then there would be nothing wrong with Aerosmith.

Overall, I enjoy the game. I needed the extra guitar and it made more sense to get a new guitar, faceplate, and a game I’m going to buy anyway as a bundle. Seperate that would have been around $130 instead of the $100 as a bundle, and at that price it makes more sense. I could not see myself paying $60 for the stand-alone game. The game plays easier than Guitar Hero III, with less “brick walls” than the previous game. Unfortunately, there are only about 40 songs in the whole game, making it the second shortest of the series. That alone makes it difficult to swallow the $60 price point, no downloadable content just makes it a more bitter pill to swallow.

I think Activision has the right idea moving Guitar Hero to more of a platform, like Rock Band, instead of a series. Anymore games like this, no matter how enjoyable, will just sink the brand eventually. Honestly, there is no reason to be releasing a game that wouldn’t appeal to people outside your existing customer base.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.